


How do I tell you?

by Falling_Tragedy



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Cecil is Inhuman, M/M, Manipulation, Regret, Tentacles, there will be tears, third eye
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-26
Packaged: 2017-12-24 19:10:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/943607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Falling_Tragedy/pseuds/Falling_Tragedy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil is searching for exactly what love means to him, but what will it mean for him in the end? There's always an end isn't there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cecil had spent a lot of time thinking lately when he wasn’t speaking to his huddled masses. He was thinking about what exactly love was supposed to mean. He knew he loved Carlos, that was a fact, but what was this love that he felt? He had read in municipally approved texts that everyone felt love in a different way, so what was this love, what was /his/ love? 

“Good night Night Vale, good night.” He had said as he clicked off the station to let it droll on with some sort of death screeching made by some type of imaginary beast that only flies could hear. Carlos had set up another date, a second date where they would meet at Big Rico’s Pizza since neither of them had their mandated slice just yet. It would be best to get that out of the way, and who better with than Carlos?

“Cecil, I was thinking about the miniature city under bowling lane five. I want to maybe take one and try to speak to it, see if it’s as smart as we are and maybe make peace.” Carlos had been speaking and Cecil hung off every word, his chin resting in his open palms with his almost too long fingers resting just about level with his eyebrows. Carlos, perfect, amazing, smart Carlos was talking to him about his plans! Or had it been a question? The way he said it made it sound like it might be, oh how did he handle this? Cecil didn’t want to be rude, not to Carlos, so he waited to see what the scientist would do, and thankfully he kept talking. “Do you think maybe you could help me? Maybe I could distract them, or hopefully it, and you could pick it up by the back of the shirt or something?”

Cecil nodded wildly. “I would love to help you Carlos! I will be the best lab assistant! Perhaps I can come over and help with science more after this?!” He had said, hands now palm down on the table and he was leaning far forward, third eye open wide and his face nearly split in a joyous smile that spread just a little too far to be human. 

These things hadn’t escaped notice and Carlos was sure the man that he was dating wasn’t human at all, that he was something more, or was it less? He had reached over to touch Cecil’s hand, rubbing his thumb gently over his skin aware that this was perhaps using Cecil, but surely he wouldn’t mind. It wasn’t like he was hurting anyone.


	2. What is it?

At first it was innocent enough, Cecil and Carlos had worked together and managed to capture a wriggling citizen from the underground city who wasn’t exactly pleased about this turn of events. Carlos had kept him in an old fish tank that had some sand spread over the bottom and dropped in things for the small captive to use. It was mostly Cecil who had taken a liking to the little guy who would get angry and beat on the glass when ever one of the two of them would get close. Cecil had somehow managed to find what looked to be doll house furniture, small doll clothing and blankets and would bring them by to drop down to the angry little man who would throw sand and rocks at Cecil when he would go to drop it in, careful never to be caught by the tiny man.  
“Isn’t he just adorable? Do you think we could keep him?” Cecil had asked as he looked over his shoulder to Carlos who had been keeping a recorder close to the tank, recording what the little man said and sending it to a professor he had known who worked with unknown text and speech, or at least he thought it was sending. It seemed to and there was no sudden visit from the secret police so he assumed that it was safe enough.  
“Well, I suppose you could. I don’t want him getting back to his city and telling them about this, or what our world is like. Maybe you can take him home?” Carlos had suggested only to get an excited squeal from Cecil who seemed thrilled at the idea! How perfect!  
“Oh Carlos! I’ll have to come up with a name! Oh it has to be just right!” 

Things didn’t start to get dangerous until a couple weeks after they captured the little man. The language didn’t seem to be a language at all, a dead end. Carlos had turned now to Cecil, working on charming him and exploring what he was always with careful and never harmful or cruel experiments. As curious as he was he was still humane, and he did find Cecil to be endearing, growing on him and into what he would venture to say into a friendship. He had used the term dating because it had been quite obvious just how infatuated Cecil had been with him and that was a perfect in for what he would need.  
Over the week he had probed and found out more and more about Cecil, like the fact that he had what looked to be a plethora of long tentacles that he seemed to be able to summon at will. Long and wild with Cecil controlling them. They were strong and graceful, useful enough to pick up cups, to use pens and forks as well as feeding Cecil French fries while Carlos wasn’t looking. A snack he had been feeding his boyfriend for his good and helpful behavior.  
“Carlos, what are you doing tomorrow?” Cecil had asked after a moment of working up his courage though it still sounded unsure and afraid. Carlos was the only man who could make him stutter, who could render him speechless and it felt amazing to Cecil, like stepping into a cold shower.  
“I had planned on more tests, just a few, why?” Carlos had asked in return as he looked up over his clip board to Cecil who sat on one of the cool steel tables.  
“Oh nothing, I had just wondered if maybe you would want to go to the edge of the town, maybe where no one can listen and tell me about the world out there?” Cecil asked while kicking his legs back and forth, watching Carlos while he wrapped up in the lab.  
“Sure Cecil, that sounds great!” Honestly he could use a break from the lab, and he did have to give as much as he took so he had a good deal of making up to do. “Do you want to meet here?” He asked as he looked back to the broadcaster who had nodded.  
“Yes, we’ll take your car to the edge of the town, and maybe a few miles out, and we can talk.” He nearly mumbled that, keeping quiet and hoping that what he said was overlooked, but the police didn’t seem to be watching Carlos or Cecil as closely as some of the others. Something about good behavior he was sure. 

A question had been weighing on Cecil’s mind, one that he was asked just a few short days after his first date with Carlos. It had come in the form of a letter under his door written in bold and illegal ink on silky white paper that moved as if made from mother of pearl and perhaps even glowed faintly.  
‘What does love mean to you, Cecil?’  
The writing had been cold and firm, not anything he recognized, and he had been pondering it ever since. What /did/ love mean to him? What did CARLOS mean to him?


	3. The Answer

Even as Cecil dressed he felt a nagging in the back of his mind, the swirling black tattoos that were so much a part of him and so much a part of something bigger writhing around in an uneasy state. He dressed but with much worry, eyes fixed on his reflection in the mirror, all three eyes blinking with enough pause that there was always the third or the pair open. 

Why was he so nervous? No, it wasn’t nerves. Why was he so afraid of this? 

Despite the fact that he tried so hard to calm down he couldn’t and as time marched on like the pounding of little fists on glass, of the angry shouting and the marching of a very tiny and still unknown rescue party, it only got worse. The fear gnawed on him like so many stray dogs, right down to the very marrow of his bones. 

Today Cecil knew fear that nearly over powered his love for Carlos and very nearly kept him rooted in his front room. Instead he fought back, he fought that fear and walked to the lab, knocking a few times on Carlos’ door and waiting for it to open, and it did. 

Carlos stood with one of his best lab coats on, not stained or ripped, no damage that Cecil could see at all and for now it chased away his fear. Carlos loved him, he wore his best, he looked his best and he had even combed his hair despite the fact that Cecil already loved it in it’s natural and messy state. Cecil had held out a gift to Carlos, not flowers but a hand full of what might pass for them here in Night Vale. 

The feeling of dread returned as they started to drive, and drive, and drive until Cecil grasped Carlos’ hand in his own and squeezed tight enough that Carlos knew something was off.  
“Cecil, is everything alright?” He had asked, looking to him for a second before looking back to the road. He was driving after all, and Phantom cars were known to appear in this stretch of road.  
“I’ve never been out this far before, I’ve never left Night Vale.” Cecil had said to him and swallowed. 

For Carlos that was exciting and he found that he planned on driving further than before! What would happen to someone from Night Vale out in the desert away from the city? Would they become normal? Would something happen? Would Cecil melt or some other strange happening? 

None of that was too far off. Something did happen and it was something horrible. 

 

Something rose up out of the sand, massive and with so many teeth that it was hard to tell if there was anything else in it’s mouth. It looked like a monster, eyes many and all over the front of it’s head, a long tail like that of a scorpion poised behind it though it was far more needle like. There were too many legs to count and Carlos had slammed on his breaks, the thing nearly as large as the car as they almost skidded into it. 

Panic wasn’t a strong enough word, Cecil had looked at this thing with wide eyes and his heart pounding. He had heard stories, but no one left Night Vale, no one went out this far and came back and this must be why! He had looked to Carlos with his hand still bound up with his boyfriend’s hand, then looked back to the thing that raised it’s tail to strike. 

It landed with a crash and a shatter, the glass around them raining down in so many shards, the tail hitting between their heads and pulled back before Carlos had started to try to drive in reverse. It was no good however, the beast had the car up by two wheels and was holding it aloft, unable to get traction the tiers span and screamed behind them like both of them had wanted to do. 

Cecil found himself clenching his jaw, his eyes narrow and set while nearly glowing in rage. He loved Carlos and he would die before he let something kill him. He wasn’t stuck in his booth this time, he wasn’t helpless. The secret police, while on their way, were not close enough to help the two beloved citizens that had become small town celebrities. 

Now Cecil understood his fear and where it had come from, now it all added up in a way that Night Vale had never had before. Cecil couldn’t open the door so he had climbed through the window with the aid of his many ‘arms’ and was howling his rage with that deep voice of his, angry and ready to fight for what he loved. 

Carlos wanted to scream for Cecil to get back in the car, but his body and lungs alike were frozen in his terror of these two inhuman things… things. When had he started to think of Cecil as a thing and not Cecil? He found that single thought had him disgusted with himself and he remained there understanding what it might be like to be a hovering cat stuck in a men’s bathroom for a moment. 

Carlos was helpless to watch as the two of them fought, Cecil with his skin tone matching the many arms that had sprouted, mouth indeed far more wide than it should be with many hooks now spread over his suction cups making them into weapons more like that of a squid. He watched as his boyfriend latched around the monster, ripping at flesh, pulling and trying to rend it, to wound it and just stop this attack. He watched as it bit, sunk teeth into Cecil who had cried out and attacked with all of his arms, all eight writhing and whipping around, one ripped clean off his back with a bite from the beast. 

Cecil had only noticed out of the corner of his eye as the secret police had pulled Carlos from the car, taking him back and away from the two fighting monsters and to the safety of one of their own vehicles. 

‘What does love mean to you, Cecil?’ That question was stuck in his mind while he fought this beast, while he grew weak and weary from blood loss, the repeated jab of the stinger to his shoulder and chest slowly fogging his thoughts, all but the one. 

‘Love means having something you would willingly give your life for.’ Finally he knew the answer and he knew that he had found it, that despite this horrible, painful fate that he had found the one man who he had honestly and whole heartedly loved. 

In the end it didn’t matter if Carlos had loved him back in quite the same way, he doubted it in the end, he had never gotten to hear Carlos say that he loved him, they had never held one another close or had a second kiss. They had never shared a night together and while it was painful to know that there could have been so much more Cecil found himself taking comfort in the fact that there could be more for Carlos, that he had saved him. 

The very last thought that Cecil had before slipping into a dark place, unconscious, was of that first and last kiss they had shared in his car, that first date with his perfect Carlos and his perfect hair.

Perfect, wonderful, alive Carlos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is how it was meant to end, again I don't do Fic often. I'm new, but I try. I'll get better with time, I hope.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't edited, just sort of right out of Word, so um, if you see issues let me know. I don't often publicly post fic, so if you see problems or it's not as close to cannon as some people might like, it's my inexperience speaking I'm sure. Either way, thank you for stopping by to read this! This is not done yet! There will be more!


End file.
